APhA Policy Manual

APhA supports coordination of patients’ comprehensive pharmacy and medical benefits that allows for provision of and compensation for pharmacists’ patient care services; aligns incentives to optimize patient outcomes; streamlines administrative processes; reduces overall health care costs and preserves patients’ right to choose providers under their pharmacy and medical benefits.

1. APhA supports the integration of social determinants of health screening as a vital component of pharmacy services.
2. APhA urges the integration of social determinants of health education within pharmacy curricula, postgraduate training, and continuing education requirements.
3. APhA supports incentivizing community engaged research, driven by meaningful partnerships and shared decisionmaking with community members.
4. APhA urges pharmacists to create opportunities for community engagement to best meet the needs of the patients they serve.
5. APhA encourages the integration of community health workers in pharmacy practice to provide culturally sensitive care, address health disparities, and promote health equity.

APhA supports reform of the U.S. health care system and believes that any reform at the state or national level must provide for the following

1. Universal coverage for pharmacy service benefits that include both medications and pharmacists’ services;
2. Specific provisions for the access to and payment for pharmacists' patient care services;
3. A single set of pricing rules, eliminating class-of-trade distinctions, for medications, medication delivery systems, and other equipment so that no payer, patient, or provider is disadvantaged by cost shifting;
4. The right for every patient to choose their own provider of medications and pharmacists’ services and for all pharmacists to participate in the health plans of their choice under equally applied terms and conditions;
5. Quality assurance mechanisms to improve and substantiate the effectiveness of medications and health services;
6. Information and administrative systems designed to enhance patient care, eliminate needless bureaucracy, and provide patients and providers price and quality information needed to make informed patient-care decisions;
7. Relief from antitrust laws, regulations, and policies to enable pharmacists to establish systems that balance provider needs relative to corporate and governmental interests;
8. Reform in the professional liability system, including caps on non-economic damages, attorneys’ fees, and other measures;
9. Representation on the controlling board of each plan by an active health care practitioner from each discipline within the scope of the plan; and
10. Recognition of the pharmacist’s role in delivering primary health care services.

1. APhA supports the expansion and increased sources of funding for pharmacies and pharmacist-provided care services that serve the needs of underserved populations to provide better health outcomes and lower healthcare costs.
2. APhA supports charitable pharmacies and pharmacy services that ensure the quality, safety, drug storage, and integrity of the drug product and supply chain, in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and policies.

1. APhA affirms that pharmacists are the medication experts whose accessibility uniquely positions them to increase access to and improve quality of health care while decreasing overall costs.
2. APhA asserts that pharmacists must be recognized as the essential and accountable patient care provider on the health care team responsible for optimizing outcomes through medication therapy management (MTM).
3. APhA asserts the following:
   1. Medication Therapy Management Services: Definition and Program Criteria is the standard definition of MTM that must be recognized by all stakeholders.
   2. Medication Therapy Management in Pharmacy Practice: Core Elements of an MTM Service Model, as adopted by the profession of pharmacy, shall serve as the foundational MTM service model.
4. APhA asserts that pharmacists must be included as essential patient care provider and compensated as such in every health care model, including but not limited to, the medical home and accountable care organizations.
5. APhA actively promotes the outcomes-based studies, pilot programs, demonstration projects, and other activities that document and reconfirm pharmacists’ impact on patient health and well-being, process of care delivery, and overall health care costs.

1. APhA advocates that the public and private sectors maintain or increase their level of commitment to ensure adequate resources for both basic and applied research within a reformed health care system.
2. APhA encourages the public and private research communities to preferentially expend resources for the discovery and development of new drugs and technologies that provide substantive, innovative therapeutic advances.
3. APhA advocates an increased emphasis on outcomes research in all areas of health services, including drug and disease-specific research encompassing clinical, economic, and humanistic dimensions (e.g., quality of life, patient satisfaction, ethics) and advocates for action related to conclusions for such research.
4. APhA encourages interdisciplinary collaboration in research efforts within and between the public and private research communities.